What I’m Learning About ToK at the IBSOM Conference

Kim Wilkes who teacher ToK in Florida presented at the IB Schools of Michigan Fall Conference. Here are her notes!

Essay and Presentation

For skills, here. do you see ToK Vocab, academic style, extended examples, WoKs, etc? No.The first several skills are the most important. Examples are touchstones to illustrate questions or titles. Formulas for writing suck. Fulfilling “rubric checklists” in papers by lists, etc. will give you a max 5/10. Have an authentic voice that is aware of its own biases.

The Assessments for ToK are a base level of what we want students to do in their adult lives: ask questions, pursue knowledge.

RLS/Example –> Conclusion/Claim. Add Implications: How does a conclusion or claim impact knowledge in the AoK? Concrete, original examples: not hypotheticals.

Areas of Knowledge Notes

Knowledge Questions Notes

History of these:

Started with Knowledge Problems; then Knowledge Issues

It’s quite simply a question about knowledge.

Should it be applicable to all AoKs? Sure, but let’s get the question posed first. It’s a question about knowledge, how it works, what we’re thinking about. Titles offered by IB don’t have to influence or serve as models for these.

Highlights from Royal Oak Schools MYP Assessment Policy

In our Middle Years Programme, meaningful assessment of learning answers the questions:

--What do we want to learn?

--How will we know if we've learned?

--What will we do if we haven't learned?

Purposes of assessment:

--Support and encourage learning and progress toward meeting district goals, IB/MYP criteria and certificate, and state of Michigan Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for graduation and college/career readiness.

--Provide feedback to students, parents, and teachers on student progress in learning